The snowfall which began Friday and lasted well into Saturday contributed to vehicle collisions and canceled events across the area.

Environment Canada has now issued a snow squall watch for Belleville, Quinte West and eastern Northumberland County.

“A snow squall has formed over Lake Ontario this morning. This snow squall is expected to drift slowly northward and may reach the north shore of Lake Ontario later this morning,” the release states. “Visibilities in heavy snow may be suddenly reduced to near zero making for hazardous driving conditions.”

Early Saturday morning, Napanee OPP decided to close the westbound lanes of Highway 401 from Marysville Road to Glen Miller Road due to the weather and several vehicle collisions.

Later in the day Quinte West OPP reported that the eastbound lanes had also been closed.

Belleville Police issued their own warning, urging residents to stay off the roads unless travel was absolutely necessary.

Police in Prince Edward County issues the same warning, reporting that “severe white-outs” were hitting the area, “making driving extremely hazardous”.

Northumberland OPP responded to a major collision on Highway 401 near Cobourg, where it was reported that approximately 30 vehicles were involved in a series of collisions including six tractor trailers. Two vehicles and one ambulance were also struck. Emergency crews were not injured in the incident. The highway was closed for several hours and re-opened shortly after 6:30 p.m.

Northumberland OPP urged those on Highway 401 to pull off and seek shelter.

In a media release sent Sunday, Belleville Police reported they responded to more than 30 calls for service but did not say how many were vehicle collisions or weather related calls.

Across the province, OPP responded to more than 1,600 crashes from Friday to Sunday morning.

Those crashes included three deaths and numerous personal injuries.

During the course of the investigations, eight OPP cruisers were struck by passing motorists, resulting in minor injuries to two police officers.

Provincial police officers ordered more than 60 road and highway closures across the province and helped more than 400 stranded motorists seek shelter from the storm.

The weather was also to blame for the cancellation of many events including Friday's Wellington Dukes game, Saturday's Belleville Bulls game and a Canadian Blood Services donor clinic.